The Pedermann
The Pedermann, born Jorann Pedermann (1237-1319), was the Great Interpreter of Ninhavé, and is a central Apostle of Ninhavism. While Ninhavé was concerned with outlining the Grand Struggle between Order and Chaos and bringing salvation from the void, The Pedermann set out the rules for life which would make attaining Paradise easier. His interpretation of Ninhavé, known as the 12 Rules for Living, form the basis for Ninhavan morality and ideology. Biography Jorann Pedermann was born to Jorann Hermann Jastik (1199-1237) and Melissi Calanda Swartovsky (1219-1258), in the village of Castance, Rakovia. Jorann Jastik was a landless noble working in the service of Yakob Pedermann, duke of Chalisky, during the Franish-Rakovian Wars. Stationed as captain of the guard, Jorann developed a relationship with Melissi, who was the innkeeper's daughter, and twenty years his junior. They never lived together, but Jorann would often invite Melissi to visit him in his quarters at night, and would pay visits to the tavern whenever he could. Jorann was said to be in talks with Melissi's father Ohjeb for her hand in marriage when he was called to the western front, to combat a new offense by the Franish Coalition. There is no confirmation as to when he died, but historians have made reasonable guesses that he perished either during the Battle of Littengeld, or immediately after, when the Rakovian forces were routed. Seven months after Jorann was sent off to war, Melissi gave birth to a son. She named him Jorann after his father, but did not assign to him a surname, as only married couples could bequeath a surname unto a son. The duke Pedermann, who was close to Jorann, took pity on Melissi and her new son and invited them into his household. During that time, Yakob gave Jorann his care and attention and as he was childless and without an heir, adopted the bastard and handed down his surname. He did not marry the boy's mother, out of respect for the father, but kept her in his household until she passed from consumption when Jorann was 21. Due to his upbringing within the Duke's house, as well is his status as heir to the Duke's title, Jorann enjoyed an education in keeping with the best that 13th century Rakovia had to offer. He was tutored extensively by Bishop Katlin Žižeca, who taught him reading, writing, arithmetic, as well as theology. Jorann began an extensive study of the Ninhavan faith, including interdenominational studies of order and chaos, and began publishing critiques of ancient and contemporary Ninhavan theology. Compared to the day-to-day affairs which most of its followers were concerned with, Ninhavan theology focused primarily on abstract legal interpretations of Ninhavé, which seemingly existed so that absolution could be handed down for any disorderly or evil action after the fact. He found these interpretations of Ninhavé arcane and struggled to apply these doctrines to his own life as a young lord's heir. Jorann would attempt to explain these complex philosophical ideas to lower members of the duke's household and found an enormous amount of education was required to even understand the basic premises of their arguments, let alone their application. Jorann's dissatisfaction with theoretical theology was paralleled by the degradation of his own mother's health and the increasingly unstable state of Rakovia, which remained engulfed in a state of war. Despite all the nations of Orosilas claiming to be Ninhavan, they regularly committed vile and chaotic acts, justifying them by use of this convoluted theology. Following the death of his mother, Jorann enrolled into the Duke's army, much like his father before, in order to see the state of his realm as he would inherit it. He was appointed as a Commandant, responsible for gathering supplies and organizing ordinances for the Duke's army. During his four years of service, Jorann participated in his role as a logistics officer in the Battles of Kunningen, Blastok, Zacula, and Remmiger. He also coordinated offenses against the Franish during the summers of 1261 and 1263. During the campaign of 1263 he was appointed the Arbiter of Camps after his predecessor, Janus Kiralyiuk, died from infection following a minor skirmish. This role empowered Jorann to maintain law and order within the camp, as well as punish malcontent and poor discipline. The Pedermann as Doctor Upon appointment to Arbiter, Jorann was confronted with a number of unpleasant realities regarding camp life. As was common before the birth of modern medicine, most men in his division died not from battle, but from infection and disease. Out of a cohort of 10,000 men, almost a third would face serious infection or illness, and about half of those men would die. In light of this, Jorann conducted a survey of his camp in order to look for possible vectors for disease. Because Jorann was not trained as a doctor but a theologian he was not aware of medieval ideas regarding health and infection, which at the time focused around pollution by bad odours and imbalanced bodily humours. Instead, Jorann focused on theological ideas of order and purity, which were considered to bring not only health to the soul but also to the body. To wit, he noticed that most camps were in extreme states of disorder, with tents randomly arranged next to latrines, which were situated near wells. To Jorann this represented a mingling of Areas of Utility, which were defined as areas where a task was completed. These Areas were then classified by function in relation to the body; the latrine was an area associated with the bowel, whereas kitchens were associated with the mouth, weapons with the hands, and so on. He also defined the byproducts of those activities as having their own special garbage areas; food scraps were a byproduct of the mouth and thus kept separate from sewage, which was a byproduct of the bowel, which also had to be so many meters away from the intake of water, etc. Pedermann also believed that dirt or more specifically, the earth, was a polluting substance in the human body and ought to be purged from all areas where humans frequented. Conversely, he believed that water was the ultimate cleanser of the human body, as men were constantly compelled to drink it, and were never compelled to eat dirt. Thus he ordered that wash basins be placed, whenever possible, so that men may cleanse themselves of dirt, which was the cause of all ailments. He also ordered anything that man touched was to be washed regularly, to prevent contamination by dirt. Upon implementation of this camp design, Pedermann saw infection and sickness decrease rapidly. Over the course of a single season, the rate of cholera was reduced by 90%, and death by infection fell by 75%. Category:Religion Category:Ninhavism Category:Orosilas